IMPACT Wrestling Announces New UK TV Deal

TORONTO | LONDON – Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. announced today a new broadcast deal for IMPACT Wrestling to be televised exclusively on Spike UK, making its flagship weekly show available throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

From Spring 2017, IMPACT Wrestling, TNA pay-per-views, including One Night Only specials will be available on Spike UK, and TNA Xplosion exclusive to My5, which is part of the Channel 5 stable available on Sky TV (160), Freeview (31), Freesat (141), Virgin Media (154) and other DTT platforms.

New episodes of IMPACT Wrestling will premiere on Friday nights, quenching the appetite of U.K. fans to view IMPACT Wrestling within hours of the US premiere broadcast.

“Since our acquisition of IMPACT Wrestling, growing the brand in the UK has been one of our most important initiatives,” said Ed Nordholm, president of IMPACT Wrestling. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Spike UK to fill this important spot in their programme schedule and look forward to rebuilding our presence in the UK market. As one of the hottest wrestling scenes in the world right now, we look forward to taking an active role in the market, both on television and with live events.”

Anna-Belen Dunlop and Kris Graham, Acquisitions and Channel Managers of Spike UK, added: “We are excited that Spike will be the new exclusive home of IMPACT Wrestling in the UK With Anthem’s new leadership and founder Jeff Jarrett back, this is a watershed moment for the franchise, which is a perfect fit for our Spike audience.”

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. is a global sports media company and a leader in operating targeted specialty video channels on linear, digital and mobile platforms with offices and studios in New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Anthem’s portfolio includes Fight Network, the world’s premier combat sports channel now broadcasting in the U.S., Canada and over 30 other countries, Fantasy Sports Network (FNTSY), the world’s first and only channel dedicated to fantasy sports, GameTV, a Canadian specialty channel available in over 9 million homes, RotoExperts.com, a leader in fantasy sports news and analysis, DailyRoto.com, the most comprehensive and far-reaching daily fantasy sports website and Edge Sport, an extreme and action sports network recently launched in Canada in partnership with IMG. Anthem also has a significant ownership interest in Pursuit Channel, one of the top outdoor channels in the U.S. available in over 40 million homes, and it owns SportsGrid.com, a leader in general sports entertainment commentary.

About IMPACT Wrestling

IMPACT Wrestling specializes in television properties, events, products, merchandise and music, as well as the management and promotion of professional wrestlers. The roster features such greats as EC3, Bobby Lashley, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, James Storm, the high-flying X-Division, Gail Kim and the lovely and lethal Knockouts. Its highly successful flagship, IMPACT WRESTLING, broadcasts in more than 120 countries around the world, including Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Pop, a joint venture of CBS Corporation and Lionsgate, in the United States and on Fight Network in Canada.

About Spike UK

Spike UK is a general entertainment channel from the Channel 5 stable which launched in the UK in 2015. Spike is available on main digital TV platforms in the UK, including Sky TV (160), Freesat (141) Freeview, TalkTalk and BT (31) and Virgin Media (154). Spike UK offers a mix of original commissions, smash hit acquired drama (The Transporter series, From Dusk Till Dawn, Powers, Wynonna Earp) blockbuster films, factual library content and adrenalin-fuelled sports blended with a range of reality series from Spike in the US, which is consistently amongst the highest

rating basic cable networks. Both Spike in the US and Channel 5 are owned and operated by Viacom International Media Networks, a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

Author’s Note: This is awesome news for TNA as they have been looking for a new UK TV deal for quite a while so seeing this is great.